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Can I be done?

Barrel Char Wood Products
D

Dave

Guest
Guest
I made 5 gals of "simple" mead. OG=1.080 and now (8 months later) SG is at 1.020 and the pH=2.8. I used White labs 720. I have read that if the pH is too low the yeast will not like it and stop doing their thing. I have sampled it and it has a wonderful honey nose and there is spirit in it but too sweet. I added some acid blend and that balanced it out. Within the last 5 weeks, the mead is clearing.

I would like to keep that great aroma. If I got fermentation started would that affect the beautiful honey nose?

Is a 7-8% alcohol content for a mead appropriate?

Would fermentation start if I adjusted the pH?

If I tried to sparkle some of it would the yeast still work the priming sugar at a low pH?

Dave
 

Redleg

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 6, 2003
46
0
0
Let me get this right...pH was 2.8 and you added acid blend? What's the pH now, 1.5?

a pH of 2.8 is extremely acidic and adding more acid will only make it more so.
 

zweitracht

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 14, 2004
61
0
0
I made 5 gals of "simple" mead. OG=1.080 and now (8 months later) SG is at 1.020 and the pH=2.8. I used White labs 720. I have read that if the pH is too low the yeast will not like it and stop doing their thing. I have sampled it and it has a wonderful honey nose and there is spirit in it but too sweet. I added some acid blend and that balanced it out. Within the last 5 weeks, the mead is clearing.

I would like to keep that great aroma. If I got fermentation started would that affect the beautiful honey nose?

Is a 7-8% alcohol content for a mead appropriate?

Would fermentation start if I adjusted the pH?

If I tried to sparkle some of it would the yeast still work the priming sugar at a low pH?

Dave

First thing's first:
If you like it, and you have no adverse reactions to it,
there's no reason you'd HAVE to mess with it. If it's
stable, and you like it, bottle it.

Alternately, buy a 3-gallon carboy, bottle off two
gallons, and play with the other three.

It sounds like you've got significant residual sugar
already. It's my undereducated opinion that the yeast
would be working on it if they could. Priming sugar
probably won't do anything.

I've used WL720 (once) and got well over an 8% alcohol
content, and I did encounter an issue with stuck fermentations due to pH crash. The thing that perplexes
me here is that I thought that pH drops only happened
during the initial 48-hours-or-so of activity. (Maybe
someone can correct me here?)

I expect if you put some calcium carbonate in there,
the fermentation would start back up. Once fermentation
completes, you could sulphite&sorbate, then
re-sweeten it with honey. (Pre-dissolve that CaCO3
in water, or you're going to have a mess on your hands.
Heck, you still might, put your fermenter in the bathtub!)

Maybe it's just my weak stomach, but overly-acidic things
tend to give me a stomachache. YMMV.
 
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